In 71the preceding section, we stated that a
merchant must concern himself with buying and selling, earning money and
making a profit. This requires cunning, willingness to enter into
disputes, cleverness, constant quarreling, and great persistence. These
are things that belong to commerce. They are qualities detrimental to
and destructive of virtuousness and manliness, because it is unavoidable
that actions influence the soul. Good actions influence it toward
goodness and virtue. Evil and deceitful actions influence it in the
opposite sense. If (evil and deceitful actions) come first 72and good qualities later, the former become firmly and
deeply rooted and detract from the good qualities, since the blameworthy
influence (of the evil actions) has left its imprint upon the soul, as
is the case with all habits that originate from actions.

These influences differ according to the different types
of merchants. Those who are of a very low type and associated closely
with bad traders who cheat and defraud and perjure themselves, asserting
and denying statements concerning transactions and prices, are much more
strongly affected by these bad character qualities. Deceitfulness
becomes their main characteristic. Manliness is completely-
alien to them, beyond their power to acquire. At any rate, it is
unavoidable that their cunning and their willingness to enter into
disputes affects their manliness (adversely). The complete absence of
(any adverse effect) is very rare among them.

There exists a second kind of merchant, which we
men­tioned in the preceding section, namely, those who have the
protection of rank and are thus spared (the onus) of having anything to
do personally with such (business manipulations).73
They are most uncommon. For they are people who have all of a sudden
come into the possession of a good deal of money in some unusual way, or
have inherited money from a member of their family. Thus, they have
obtained the wealth that helps them to associate with the people of the
dynasty and to gain prominence and renown among their contemporaries.
Therefore, they are too proud to have anything personally to do with
such (business manipulations), and they leave them to the care of their
agents and servants. It is easy for them to have the magistrates confirm
their rights, because (the magistrates) are familiar with their
beneficence and gifts. (These merchants) will thus be remote from such
(bad) character qualities, since they have nothing to do with the
actions that bring them about, as has just been mentioned. Their
manliness, therefore, will be very firmly rooted and very remote from
these destructive qualities, save for the influences of such evil
actions as may slip in behind the scenes.74
For they are compelled to supervise their agents and to concur with or
oppose the things they do and do not do. However, these (activities) are
limited, and their influence is scarcely perceptible.

14.
The character qualities of merchants are
inferior to those of noblemen and rulers.

This is because merchants are mostly occupied with
buying and selling. This necessarily requires cunning. If a merchant
always practices cunning, it becomes his dominant character quality. The
quality of cunning is remote from that of manliness which is the
characteristic quality of rulers and noblemen.

If the character of (the merchant) then adopts the bad
qualities that follow from (cunning) in low-class merchants, such as
quarrelsomeness, cheating, defrauding, as well as (the inclination to)
commit perjury in rejecting and accepting statements concerning
prices, his character can be expected to be one of the lowest sort, for
well-known reasons76
It is because of the character that one acquires through the practice of
commerce that political leaders avoid engaging in it. There are some
merchants who are not affected by those character qualities and who are
able to avoid them, because they have noble souls and are mag­nanimous,
but they are very rare in this world.

"God guides whomever He wants to guide" 77with His bounty and generosity. He is the Lord of the
first ones and the last ones.